Class hours:  Wed 2:10-4:50
Office hours: Mon 8-9 pm, Wed 5-7 pm, TuF 2-3:30 pm
Office: Ward 252
Phone: 885-2955 (call anytime; you can leave a message if I am not in)
e-mail: dgolash@american.edu

Course Description

This course examines the philosophical issues associated with criminal punishment, particularly theories of the moral justification for punishment.  The retributive, deterrent, incapacitation, and moral reform theories will be considered in depth.  In addition, we will consider issues such as the role of victim and community anger in the imposition of punishment, limits on the forms of punishment, and the proper occasions for forgiveness and mercy.

Materials

Murphy, Jeffrie, ed., Punishment and Rehabilitation, 3rd ed. [P&R]
Murphy, Jeffrie, and Jean Hampton, Forgiveness and Mercy
Course packet (these materials are also available on 2-hour reserve at the library)
Additional materials on course website and JSTOR

Requirements

1. All students are expected to attend class and to be prepared to discuss the readings.
2. There will be an optional take-home midterm.  Undergraduates and non-degree students are advised, but not required, to take the midterm.
3. During the second half of the semester, you will write a 10-15 page term paper on a topic relevant to the course.  Topics must be approved. You are expected to submit an outline and at least one draft of the paper; you may submit multiple drafts if you choose.  Early in the semester, you will choose the dates on which you wish to submit your topic, outline, and first draft.  These dates are firm once selected and may be adjusted only for compelling reasons.
4. There will be a final exam.

Grading

• Tests - 50% (if you take the midterm, it counts 25%)
• Term paper:  50%
• No specific grade is given for attendance and participation, but poor attendance or lack of preparation will lower your final grade; above-average contribution will raise it.

SCHEDULE AND READINGS

January 16

• Introduction
• Excerpt from Foucault, Discipline and Punish

January 23 - No Class: rescheduled for May 1

January 30

• Murphy, Introduction [P&R]
• Plato, Gorgias and Crito [Course packet]

Deterrence

February 6 - Classical utlitarian theory

• Bentham, Punishment and Utility [P&R]
• McCloskey, Utilitarian and Retributive Punishment [Course packet]
• LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas [Course packet]

February 13 - Self-defense theory

• Farrell, The Justification of General Deterrence [P&R]
• Quinn, The Right to Threaten and the Right to Punish [JSTOR]

Rehabilitation & Incapacitation

February 20

    Class cancelled

Retributivism

February 27

• Schoeman, On Incapacitating the Dangerous [Course packet]
• Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (excerpts)[course packet]
•     Reading questions for Kant
• Kant, On the Right to Punish and to Grant Clemency [P&R]

March 6

• Hegel, Philosophy of Right (excerpt) [course packet]
• Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (excerpt) [course packet]
• Morris, Persons & Punishment [P&R]
• O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh (excerpts) [course packet]
• Murphy, Marxism and Retribution [course packet]

SPRING BREAK

March 20

• Burgh, Do the Guilty Deserve Punishment? [course packet]
• Sher, Desert [course packet]
• Midterm questions distributed

Moral Reform

March 27

• Duff, Expression, Penance, and Reform [P&R]
• Morris, Paternalistic Theory of Punishment [P&R]
• Optional midterm due

Punishment and the Emotions

April 3

• Moore, The Moral Worth of Retribution [P&R]
• Berns, Morality and Anger [course packet]

April 10

• Forgiveness  & Mercy,  chs. 2, 3 & 4

April 17

• Murphy, Getting Even:  The Role of the Victim [P&R]
• Golash, Punishment and the Emotions [on website]

Limiting Punishment

April 24

• Nussbaum, Equity & Mercy [P&R]

Alternatives to Punishment

May 1

• Barnett, Restitution
• FINAL PAPER DUE

May 8

• Final exam

Course help

What is a conceptual paper?
Paper-writing tips